Acee: Chargers an offensive mess put together by A.J. Smith

DENVER — The locker room had mostly emptied, the bulk of the Chargers players and coaches having dressed and left.

Philip Rivers had already addressed the media, showered and was fitting his boots under his jeans as he tackled the topic of the Chargers’ suddenly impotent offense.

In his first six years as the starting quarterback, the Chargers offense averaged 25.6 points a game and never finished worse than eighth in offensive points scored. In fact, the 2011 season was the Chargers’ eighth straight averaging at least 25 points, a stretch unmatched in NFL history.

Through 10 games this season, the offense is averaging 19.5 points and ranks 21st in the NFL.

Pushed to do more than take blame for his part, which can be measured now by his 14 picks, Rivers finally said this: “It’s not an excuse, but we’ve had a lot of change. We’ve tried to grow. We have grown, just not (to) where we need to be to win a game.”

All Rivers meant was that it takes a while for an offense with so many new parts to get in sustained rhythm.

But I will add that many of the new players simply don’t even deserve to wear the same uniform worn by Vincent Jackson and Darren Sproles, Kris Dielman and Marcus McNeill.

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Certainly, you remember all those screens to Sproles that used to go for more than four yards and often went for 20 or more, saving the Chargers again and again. You might look at the stats and think Jackson wasn’t all that exceptional against Denver, but he occupied the great Champ Bailey the past five years while Malcom Floyd and Antonio Gates often ran free.

It’s a struggle to even call this a Chargers offense. It's shameful.

For crying out loud, the five skill players in at game’s end were Floyd and Gates and then Danario Alexander, Ronnie Brown and Ladarius Green.

The offensive line had Rex Hadnot and Michael Harris where Dielman and McNeill used to be.

Never has it been so apparent that this is A.J. Smith’s mess.

It’s not Smith’s fault the left side of his line had to retire early due to injury, but it is his fault that Jackson and Sproles were not kept. And it’s not Smith’s fault that Jared Gaither is absolutely stealing money, but the highest draft pick Smith has ever invested on an offensive lineman is a second-round pick, and the guy starting in Gaither’s place was undrafted this past April.

The Chargers can talk about being close, but even if it’s true, missing by a few plays each time adds up over six games.

It adds up to this team just not having enough good players, and it is no longer an escapable conclusion.

Sunday’s 30-23 loss, in which the offense amassed 54 yards and zero points in the first half, illustrated that more than any before it.

There was $29 million in guaranteed money paid to free agents this past March that paid little to no dividend on Sunday. Gaither missed his sixth game, Eddie Royal left with a hamstring injury after returning one punt for one yard, and Robert Meachem caught one pass for 10 yards after not seeing the field in the first half.

Linebacker Larry English, the first-round pick in 2009, playing in just his 14th games since the start of the ’10 season, left another game injured. Running back Ryan Mathews, the first-round pick in 2010 went a 17th straight game without 100 yards. (And that’s just the games he’s played, as he has missed three games in that span. We’re not even going to talk about his fumbles.)

The Chargers talk about how they’re fighting, and I see ample evidence of that. So what? The weapons they’re bringing to battle are inferior.

A defense that has scored 37 points on its own this season – including the first nine Chargers points Sunday – and made enough stops to make a difference is now being let down by an offense that is dreadful.

Yes, Rivers threw another inexplicable pick, but a far bigger issue is that the messy offensive line and lack of playmakers.

And that’s on Smith.

With a little less than two minutes to play, with his team driving for what would be a touchdown that brought them to within seven points, Chargers President Dean Spanos walked from the field to the locker room.

Had his team recovered an onside kick with 1½ minutes to play and driven for a game-tying touchdown, Spanos would have been watching on television.

I have never seen him leave the playing surface with a game even remotely in reach. I didn’t talk to him afterward, but I wonder if he didn’t know deep down that a comeback wasn’t tenable for this team, this year.

I suspect he finally knows it is over – the season, the era of the Chargers mattering - even though I was assured this week by those familiar with his thinking that he sees no purpose in firing anyone until the season is over.

The fact the Chargers got back to within one score may buttress Spanos’ belief that his team hasn’t stopped fighting, which is a key factor in his decision to not fire Norv Turner. But nothing can likely keep Spanos from coming to the conclusion that his team simply doesn’t have what it takes.

Turner will no doubt be fired from his third head coaching job. But it is increasingly likely Spanos also does what I never thought he would: decide he needs a new man to acquire the talent.